What is coaching? Val Hastings, Master Certified Coach and Founder and President of Coaching4Clergy and other coach training organizations, wrote, “As a coach, I help people get the results they want by bringing out the best in them. Coaching isn’t about fixing people or solving problems, rather, coaching is a developmental or discovery-based process. Similar to athletic coaches, we further develop the skill and talent already inherent in the people we coach.” (The Next Great Awakening: How to Empower God’s People with a Coach Approach to Ministry, p. 2)
I’ve participated in several classes with Val, and I think I’m really good at self-coaching. Often before a session I will work through, in my own head, all the things I said I wanted to talk about and then think, “Why do I need a coach?” Then my coach will ask a question I didn’t think about. Sometimes, she will even ask one I was in some way unwilling to ask myself but needed to acknowledge and speak the answer to. The kind of support I have personally experienced from a coach has helped me to own my decisions while following God’s direction rather than my own.
Coaching has been a game changer in my discipleship as well as my leadership. Because coaching transforms ministry by growing up the leader from within, rather than giving outside instruction, it produces lasting change that continues to grow leaders and ministry forward.
The trouble is, unless you can connect with a student coach, these services are overpriced for rural ministry or any ministry on a budget. These ministry leaders often lack support in a lot of other ways as well. So, because of the impact coaching has on leaders over other forms of continuing education, I am answering the call to offer this support affordably to help grow rural pastors and leaders to lead growing ministries.
As Val says, the best way to understand coaching is to give it a try. The first session is always free. Try it out and if you like what you experience, we can set up an ongoing coaching relationship. If you don’t think it will give you the results you’re looking for, then I pray you will find the support that is right for you and share that with me and other ministry leaders too.
Use this form to book your free session now! I am available Mondays-Thursdays. Please choose a date at least one week out and let me know your time zone in the notes.
Growing Rural Ministries 